I did it! I did it!

I DID IT!
Thursday morning I RAN 1 full mile. (Note the lack of " " around the word ran)

Of course, on the down side, that means I'll expect myself to run a full mile from here on out.

Lower expectations (ie: run a couple laps) are easier to achieve.

Higher expectations offer greater satisfaction.

I bet there is a life lesson in there somewhere ;)
...............
.............
............. And NO. This does not mean I'm now setting my sights on a marathon.........silly reader! ;)

All About Me Video

In light of yesterday's post, I thought this video relevant.

O-kay. Can't embed it for some reason, so you'll just have to click here to see it. (scroll to the bottom of the post - after reading the article, of course)
My thanks to Robin Dugall and his blog Spiritual Regurgitations, where I found the video.

And did I mention relevant in that first sentence?
Click here for another funny video.
My thanks to author Jill Williamson for posting it on her blog.

Missing the big picture

I love details. I love lists and cross-check color-coded spreadsheets.  Excel is my friend.
If I don't take frequent breaks to come up for air, I miss the big picture.  The why of why I am performing a detailed task.  The purpose of my precious little details. 

Read Matthew 20:17-21 and the same story in Mark 10:32-37.
If you don't have your Bible handy - use the sidebar Bible gadget.

On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus clearly laid out for the 12 what was going to happen. He gave them the big picture: 
            The Son of Man will be betrayed - Priests will condemn Him - Gentiles will mock, flog, and kill Him - Three days later He will rise. 

That may sound like a detailed list to some of you.  Trust me, it's not.  Details would be:
      The Son of Man (which is me, Jesus, by the way) will be betrayed (by a kiss from Judas Iscariot in the garden of Gethsemane) and (Caiaphas) will condemn ME to death (by crucifiction at Golgatha)......................  you get the point.

Anyhoo, I digress.

Jesus just finishes telling the 12 about his death.  More importantly, He tells them of His resurrection!  He is going to forever conquer sin and death!

James and John, the sons of Zebedee missed the forrest for the trees.  They only had one little detail on their minds.  "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory".
Basically, they said, "That's nice.  Now, when you reign, can we share your glory?  We're worried about us, Lord."

Do I do that?  Am I so caught up in my own life - my own details - that I miss what Jesus is trying to teach me?  Do I forget to glance up and notice what God is doing in the lives of those around me?  To look at the big picture?

Painting Friendship

Stereotypically, men bond by watching or participating in sports and doing a project of some sort together.  Women bond through shopping, eating, and talking (usually involving large amounts of crying, laughing, or both).
So when my good friend Marci called Thursday morning and invited me to help paint mutual friend Joelle's nursery on Friday,  I wasn't thinking, "Oh goody!  A chance to bond!"  Quite frankly, I was thinking, "Great.  I'm spending all day today planting a garden and my house is a mess.  I don't feel like spending tomorrow helping someone else paint.  Bu-ut, Marci generously gave her time and energy to help me paint my master bedroom, so how can I tell her no?!?"
"Sure!",  I told Marci...... hoping she didn't detect my false enthusiasm.

3 Things God taught me through painting a nursery yesterday:

1) Marci is a servant friend.  She comes to a friend's need in a heartbeat.  So giving..... and cheerful about it, too.
2) I am not.  I prefer to be the "taker".  Oh, I'll help a friend, because that is what friends do.  But I'm not very often cheerful about it.  Shame on me.
    side note:  Part of me wishes God had kept that one His little secret.  Did I accidentally pray recently to become a better friend or more servant-hearted?!
3) There is blessing in servanthood.  I had such a fun time with Marci and Joelle yesterday.  Sure, someone (Marci) tried dropping a level on my head and I ended the day with a kinked neck and wrist.  But all in all we enjoyed good fellowship.  Deepened our friendship over sharing the excitement of a new little boy.
I nearly missed out on that blessing.  Glad I didn't.

Bringing it full circle, we girls bonded through an activity.  Who says bonding through activities is just for the boys?  Ok, sure there was lots of talking going on.  But there wouldn't have been talking without the activity.

Interaction:
Where do you fall on the servant-heart scale?   1 - 10
Use the following guide:
1 (help if forced to)  3 (Britt-like: joyfully volunteer - if it fits in my schedule and is needed)  9 (Marci-like)   10  (practically Jesus)

and I know for a fact most of my friends are at least a 7 or 8..... so if you underscore yourself, I'll call you on it!

Ketchup Scrambled Eggs

Good Morning. 
Kinda hard to wake up this morning.  I have yet to do my Wednesday Pilates, shower, read the Bible, or make my children breakfast.  Instead, I am cooking you up a tasty cyber breakfast of ketchup scrambled eggs. 

1) First of all, how do you spell ketchup?  KETCHUP  or  CATSUP?  For the purpose of this post I really should have spelled it CATCH-UP.  Hang on, This post covers several items in no particular order and with no particular thread connecting them  (Hence the "scrambled" portion of the title)

2) Speaking of Scrambled, that's how Dan thinks my brain is wired.  We watched this humorous marriage seminar video clip on The Men's Brain by Mark Gungor.  In it, Mark explains how Men have neat separate mental boxes for every area of their life.   In response, Dan figures my brain is more like a grab-bag with every thought scrambled into randomness.  Never know what's gonna come out.

3) We are closer to deciding on a puppy!  Probably going to go with English Setter.  Was it hours of research leading us to this choice?  Kind of.  I researched several breeds on the internet and narrowed it down.  English Setter made the top 10.............and then for some random reason I can't remember, got crossed off.   The breed reappeared at the #1 spot, however, when Dan's co-worker offered a generous discount on a recently born English Setter pups :)  They are 4 weeks old today and I hope to meet them this week!  (We'll only be purchasing one)  I'm feeling a little "nesting" going on.  Making lists of what we need to buy and what I need to accomplish around the house (ie: pick up the downstairs) before our little arrival in 3 weeks.

4) Soccer and AWANA are over !!!!  Great times.  Glad we participated.  Glad they're done.

5) I am SOOO ready for Summer.  Camping, Water Park, Seeing several different family members.  Backyard-swing-book-reading while my children play in the wading pool.   Al....most.... there.....  :)

6)  Guess What!?!  Exciting "Running" update.  I now "run" 3/5 of a mile without stopping.  Impressive, I know.  I've decided when I "run" a full mile I will reward myself by dropping the quotation marks from "running".

7) Now that it's 8:30, I better start making real breakfast.  Hope you enjoyed your cyber ketchup scrambled eggs!

Speaking of Ketchup, (See how I brought this post full circle?!?), what is the wierdest thing you -or someone else- put ketchup on? 

For me it was last night at the supper table.  My children put ketchup on their Tilapia fillets.  
Okay, I'll admit it.  As a child I had a wierd ketchup experience.  I routinely squirted ketchup on cottage cheese.  Gags me to think about that now, though.

Mis-Matched Flatwear

If you are ever at my house and you open up my utensil drawer, mismatched silverware flatwear will greet you.  Laying in their green untensil holder, they'll put on their best face, hoping you'll pick them.  You might have to rumage through the top few spoons to find your favorite.   You see, I own two different styles of butter knives and tablespoons, three different forks, and five styles of spoons.  And that doesn't even include a wide assortment of mismatched baby/toddler utensils.  Usually, I think nothing about my lower-class, mismatched flatware.  (I think at least one set is Oneida, afterall).  I even call it "silverware". 

However, this past Thanksgiving we ate dinner at a friend's house.  Just before eating,  she pulled out something peculiar.  A rectangular shaped wood box with red-velvet lining.  Imagine my surprise when upon peering inside I discovered real silverware.  All matching.  Even novelties such as serving spoons, jelly spoon, pickle fork, and meat forks matched all 12 coordinating place settings. It was a site to behold.

If my friend hadn't invited me over for dinnner and used her box of real silverware, I might have forgotten such items even existed.  I am used to my mismatched flatware.  I think nothing of it.  Digging 4 spoons down for my favorite is normal.

What if instead of flatware, it was my lifestyle?  What if I lived a cheap imitation life - void of the real deal?  I would think it normal.  I would need someone else to show me real LIFE existed.  Open their red velvet lined box life and let me experience the real deal.  Then I would know what had been missing in my life.

If you know Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you have the real deal.  The red velvet lined box.  People living without knowledge of His love and goodness, living in sin or bad life circumstances, only know cheap imitation flatware.

Here is to letting others into our lives so they may experience the real deal.